A Timely Paradox

 ^{Luke 17: 26-37}

 ^{Seeking To Save And Losing}

²⁶ “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰ “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. ³² Remember Lot’s wife! ³³ Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. ³⁵ Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.” ^[36] 

³⁷ “Where, Lord?” they asked.

He replied, “Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather.”"

"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it." (Lk 17: 33).  A  paradox we find verified the longer we live as we become more and more aware that we have no control of our lives, of our futures. All the money in the bank, all the life insurance we invest in, all the vitamins and supplements we buy, cannot guarantee freedom from illness nor a long, carefree life.  But those who discipline themselves, yes, even deny themselves, are the ones who find their hearts flooded with peace and security of such a nature that it must come from God, for nothing nor no one on earth can provide such gifts.  May we not hold back from the urging to do more for God and others and less for self, and discover how God lavishes his grace upon us far beyond our wildest dreams. And in this Pandemic, isn't this a timely consolation!

Bro. Rene